THE SPOTTED OR CANADA GROUSE. 85 



than that of the Ruffed Grouse, and which can be heard at a considerable 

 distance. The female places her nest beneath the low horizontal branches of 

 fir trees, taking care to conceal it well. It consists of a bed of twigs, dry 

 leaves and mosses, on which she deposits from eight to fourteen eggs, of a 

 deep fawn colour, irregularly splashed with different tints of brown. They 

 raise only one brood in the season, and the young follow the mother as soon 

 as hatched. The males leave the females whenever incubation has com- 

 menced, and do not join them again until late in autumn; indeed, they 

 remove to different woods, where they are more shy and wary than during 

 the love season or in winter. 



This species walks much in the manner of our Partridge. I never saw 

 one jerk its tail as the Ruffed Grouse does, nor do they burrow in the snow 

 like that bird, but usually resort to trees to save themselves from their 

 pursuers. They seldom move from thence at the barking of a dog, and 

 when roused fly only to a short distance, uttering a few clucks, which they 

 repeat on alighting. In general, when a flock is discovered, each individual 

 forming it may be easily caught, for so seldom do they see men in the 

 secluded places which they inhabit, that they do not seem to be aware of the 

 hostile propensities of the race. 



Along the shores of the Bay of Fundy, the Spruce Partridge is much more 

 abundant than the Ruffed Grouse, which indeed gradually becomes scarcer 

 the farther north we proceed, and is unknown in Labrador, where it is 

 replaced by the Willow Ptarmigan, and two other species. The females of 

 the Canada Grouse differ materially in their colouring in different latitudes. 

 In Maine, for instance, they are more richly coloured than in Labrador, 

 where I observed that all the individuals procured by me were of a much 

 greyer hue than those shot near Dennisville. The like difference is perhaps 

 still more remarkable in the Ruffed Grouse, which are so very grey and 

 uniformly coloured in the Northern and Eastern States, as to induce almost 

 every person to consider them as of a species distinct from those found in 

 Kentucky, or any of the southern mountainous districts of the Union. I 

 have in my possession skins of both species procured a thousand miles 

 apart, that present these remarkable differences in the general hue of their 

 plumage. 



All the species of this genus indicate the approach of rainy weather or a 

 snow storm, with far more precision than the best barometer; for on the 

 afternoon previous to such weather, they all resort to their roosting places 

 earlier by several hours than they do during a continuation of fine weather. 

 I have seen groups of Grouse flying up to their roosts at mid-day, or as soon 

 as the weather felt heavy, and have observed that it generally rained in the 

 course of that afternoon. When, on the contrary, the same flock would 



Vol. V. 12 



